Where did the weekend go?

Friday night:
Get home from work
change clothes
dinner with the Zartman's at Rulli's in Mishawaka. So Yummy!

Saturday:
Anitra drops Senica and Ty off at 8:30am
Brian and I are up and making breakfast, pancakes, eggs, potatoes and bacon
Give Ty bath b/c, like a boy, he has rubbed all of his breakfast in his fair
10:30 Play downstairs with Senica and Ty
11:00 Ty with Brian and Senica with me - Early naps so we aren't grumpy at Daddy's game

1:00 Wake up from naps - have lunch get ready for the game!

2:30 We make it to the game!

I took these pics at the game Sat. My favorite pic is the bottom right of Senica. I love how you can see the field in her glasses!

Seth's team swept Grace, so he's now above .500 for this season! So, my husband suggested we celebrate by going out to dinner. I know, you are all shocked that Brian wanted to celebrate with food! ;) So we went to Red Lobster, got seated around 8 and didn't get home until after 10:00pm!

Where's Waldo, I mean Ty?

Well, I tried to get all the kids who hunted eggs in this picture, but poor Ty, he just couldn't get up front!

What are the girls laughing so hard at?? Oh, Anitra behind me....giving me bunny ears! Apparently, that's hilarious...but whatever it takes! ;)

Happy Easter!

We had Easter at mom's this year. Brenna and Senica stayed in their dresses, but Janae was out of hers before I got there. How cute is Brenna the little poser?? It was nice enough outside to "hunt" eggs in the front yard, so out we went! :) Let me tell you, it's hard to get really good pictures of 4 kids running around the front yard looking for eggs. So, most of the pictures are the backs of their jackets! UGGHH!! I guess next year, I will have to set my camera to the "Sports" theme b/c that's how fast they move!

The coloring of the Eggs

Seth had cancelled games, make-up games and a crazy week from the wonderful Indiana weather last week, so I told Senica if her daddy didn't have time to color Easter Eggs with her I would. So Saturday morning she came down and we colored eggs together. Brian was at work, so it worked out perfectly! Senica wanted to take some pictures too, so the one of me and of me holding the eggs that say Senica and Addi, she took. Didn't she do a good job? I was pretty impressed with her photography abilities! :)

Where are you Spring?

We had some nice weather last weekend and the kids walked down from Anitra's house. 7 days later, snow everywhere!! Where are you Spring??!

Planes, Trains (not really) & Automobiles

When I woke up I said, I don't wanna leave Florida! I didn't think God was really listening to me!

To spare your from all the boring details, I will try and keep this short.

We missed our flight - by about 5 mintues I would guess. The lady at the desk called the plane, but they wouldn't let us on. Next flight - Tuesday! So, what were our options?? Well, rent a car and pick to return it to another location (South Bend airport) but that would have cost us $700.00 not including gas! Or - wait about 7 hours at the airport with a 13-month old and a 3-year old, and then get on a bus with 24 baseball players/coaches and ride the 24-hour bus ride home! We picked the cheapest option, and ended up riding the bus home! Quite the experience, but the kids did really great considering the situation!

The pictures show the day how it happened, top left how upset we were at missing the flight, then how deliriously silly we were b/c we were B.O.R.E.D at the airport, then how extremely tired we were and then finally on the bus!

Goodbye Florida!

Sisters

Awwww..how cute are we?? Actually, when I sat on Anitra's lap, it broke her chair...ok, I'm kidding!! I usually don't think I take very good pics, but I liked this one of us. :)

So Cute!

What a cute family they are!! The background picture is the guys praying after the game. I thought it was a neat pic! Then, on the left, Senica was sooo tired and didn't want her picture taken as you can see...then on the right, we told her when we got to the car, she could have some gum if she smiled. That kid LOVES gum!

Game 1 on Friday

Game one on Friday. It was hot!! We looked a lot better and WON!!! Whoooo Hooooo!! Seth said they were ranked. Seems like we can only beat ranked teams, but the teams that aren't ranked, we don't do so hot. Anyway, here is a collage from the first game. I love how in some of the pics you can see them palm trees are orange groves in the back!

What our mornings looked like

No one wanted to really get up, but how do sleep-in in Florida? There was too much going on that I didn't sleep in one day past 7:30! The kids were usually up sometime in the 6 o'clock hour too! I can get up early when I know I can nap later. ;)

vac

For Randa....

Randa is the nurse in my office at work. Her son, Steve plays for Seth. He pitched the end of the game today. It was a nice day, an ugly loss. But, Steve looked pretty good and finally we had some defense to back him up, just a little too late in the game!

Guess what we had for dinner??

The guys cooked for us tonight. We had spaghetti! Javi made homemade alfredo sauce and it was delicious!! Seth made the spaghetti and spaghetti sauce. We also had garlic bread w/cheese! YUMMY!! The kids loved dinner too! They were in rare form during dinner and had us cracking up! There were so many cute pictures, I couldn't decide which ones to post....so you got most of them! ;)

Sand Crane

Ty LOVED the sand crane! He was trying to chase it, yelling at it, shaking his arms at it. It was hilarious! Senica followed him out there, but she lost interest. We had to carry him back to the game b/c he didn't want to leave! I wish I could have gotten a video of him yelling at the bird in "Ty language"! :)

The view

The houses that we stay in down here are in a beautiful community that is on a golf course and has a guard at the entrance. It is really a nice area! These pictures are part of the golf course....I took these on my walk. Really, the pictures don't do it justice. This will give everyone at home something to look at to try to forget about that snow! I know I will want to look at these pictures when I get home! Mom said this morning that it's 7 degrees with the windchill! YUK!

I have Janae hair!

Anitra woke up - came out of the bedroom and announced....I have JANAE hair!! Then we both laughed so hard, Kike (key-kay) wanted to know what was so funny! We had to explain Janae's hair to him! ha!!

Mark-erd out!

When we got home from supper, Ty was asleep on the floor...clinging to the marker! He was so tired, Anitra said he was just wondering around and bumping into things, so she just let him go, and he laid down and fell asleep! How precious!!

What mom's feel like...

I got to experience what mom's feel like when they are on vacation. I took the kids out to be in the sun and get away from the germs in the house. They both were so good today and really did good at letting Anitra get some rest. She got up around 11:30 and came out in the sun with us, but she still didn't feel well all day. I got the kids lunch and Jacinda and I took them for a walk. It was 82 degrees today! So BEAUTIFUL!

They guys split their games today. Coach Siler said they should have won them both! For the first time ever for Seth, they had a sun delay. 45 minutes! Then they went into extra innings, so they didn't get home 'till pretty late! Jacinda and I went to Sonny's BBQ for supper. It was soooo good!!

Morning Hugs!

This was the love that was being spread this morning when we woke up! How sweet...Melts my heart!

Typed out

As I am sitting here trying to get my blogging in before a day of chasing kids....Ty climbs up to see what I am doing. Next thing I know he's nodding like Grandpa Pottenger used to do in church! I lay his head back....and that's all he wrote! Literally...I'm done for now.

Monday morning...

This morning I woke up and was going to take some pics of the pool....I close the sliding door and turn around and Ty is like - LET ME OUT!! He even had his head mashed against the door!

In other news....Anitra was up all night with the flu!! She is now quarantined to her bedroom...It's 9:30am and Seth just left for his game. They have a double-header today at noon. I have the kids....We are lysoling the house. I am going to try to keep them outside today away from the germs! Please pray that not only does Anita's finger heal, but that she gets rid of this flu and that no one else gets it!! The drama continues...

Javi's birthday...

Today was Javi's 26th birthday, so I made cupcakes and we had a party. We had cupcakes and ice cream...yum! I told Brian that I was going through baking withdrawl so it was perfect to have a birthday down here! :)

The other pic is Anitra's family...how cute are they?! You like Ty's outfit? It was part of his birthday present from Uncle BK and Aunt Addi! :) Senica's sweatshirt is what Javi got Senica for Christmas. He said to her last night...I like that sweatshirt, she said it's from you! She said do you know why I brought it? He said...why? She said, because I wanted everyone to see it! Awww...how sweet!

Swimming

Senica L.O.V.E.S. the pool....Ty H.A.T.E.S the pool! So these are mostly of Senica, with one of Ty walking around the pool carrying Senica's flip flops.

Senica had gotten out of her swimsuit and Anitra said I told you to not take your suit off, you'd probably want to swim. Seth told Anitra, "We're on vacation!" So Anitra pulled Senica in the pool WITH her clothes on! :) She's our little water bug!

Off to a rocky start...

So yesterday was day 1 of vacation...

Our flight was supposed to leave out of South Bend at 3:10pm. Our flight was delayed which always adds a little suspense to the day when flying with 2 children, ages 3 1/2 and 13 months! Our flight finally took off at 4:45!

Ty was asleep when we boarded the plane and Anitra held him. Jacinda sat next to them. Senica and I sat in the row in front of them. Senica was an absolute angel! Oh yeah, the day before we flew, both kids were sick...ear infections in all 4 of their ears! agghhh! Anitra and I had also come down with awful head colds! Senica didn't cry once during take off, but landing was another story. I knew when my ears started hurting (I am fighting this cold) that hers were gonna start any second. Needless to say, she cried some, but did an AMAZING job otherwise!

So...we get to the car rental place, we got Anitra all settled in her car. Car seats - check, luggage in the trunk - check....Addi's car in B10 - No Check!! I was sure that they told me my car was in B10, I got my paper back out...B10, no car. So, I find the guy and tell him my car is gone....back inside I go to get another car. Meanwhile, Anitra is calling me to ask how start her car. It's one of those magnetic ignitions. 30 minutes later we both had cars and were on the road....finally 40 minutes and we'll be to the house...or not!

We stopped at McDonalds to get something to eat. Our eating schedule was off since we were at the airport forever. I am ordering at the drive-thru and Anitra is in her car behind me. I see Anitra get out and then I hear her screaming...like I have never heard her scream before (even when giving birth to her children). She gets back in the car and drives off. I am now paying for my food, thinking I gotta go check on my sister and she calls....crying so hard I can't understand her..something about blood and Senica.

I get out of the drivers seat, tell Jacinda to get the food - I sprint across the parking lot around the corner and Anitra is standing outside of her car with blood running down her arm and dripping off her elbow! She said that Senica was sleeping, Ty's crying and she runs inside. I get Ty out of his seat and see Anitra run up to the counter...they hand her napkins and she runs to the bathroom. It's killing me to not go in and help her, but I have Senica and Ty!! The drive-thru took FOREVER before Jacinda got her food!! I tell her to watch Sencia and I take Ty in with me. Anitra is in the bathroom on the phone with Seth...crying...don't make me go without you! I just want to get to you! Seth is telling her to let Jacinda drive her car, but Anitra, the rule-keeper, didn't add another driver to the car so she won't let Jacinda drive. We finally get her finger to stop bleeding, using McDonald's napkins and tape from the first aid kit!

On the road again...Jacinda rode with Anitra and the kids...I am in a new car I am not used to, reading directions on how to get to our house, trying to not lose Anitra behind me, driving on a 4-lane toll road!! I am worried about my sister and about stressed to the max!!

We get to the house finally and check out the damage, both sides of her finger have deep puncture wounds! What happened...Well, Ty was crying and Anitra couldn't reach behind her to get to him b/c it's not her car...and he sits further back. So when we got to McDonalds, she got out to give him his pacifier, and the car started to move, like it wasn't in park. So she hopped back in and put it in park got back out, put the paci in his mouth, and realized her door was starting to shut...she was worried that it would have auto locks and lock her out, so she went to grab the door and her hand got shut in the door.

We got to the house and Seth and I thought that she really needed to go to the urgent care center, b/c it looked really bad! I said I would watch the kids so they could get her checked out. Well, the urgent care center is closed on the weekends...so off to the ER. Anitra and Seth finally got home at 1:00am! Anitra was not impressed with the hospital. They took x-rays, it wasn't broken...but they weren't even going to clean her wound. They never took her to a private room. Had her on a gurney in the hall, brought the x-ray machine to her and while they were doing the x-ray on her left hand, they were giving her a tetanus shot in her right arm! The while time in the hall!!! I am thankful tonight for a good hospital and healthcare where I live!
***Sigh*** What a relaxing first day of vacation!

Happy Birthday Brenna!!

So, I am a little behind in my postings....I will catch up now that I am on vacation! :)

Our cute, little Brenna turned 4 on Feb. 28th! She is such a loving little girl! She is most definitly a momma's girl! When she was born, she had a small hole in her heart. It gave us quite a scare, but you would never know that is how her life started. She is such an energetic girl! She has one of the sweetest voices I have ever heard! She is such a "people" person...so friendly with everyone.

Anyway, here are some pics from her party. As always, she got a lot of nice things! Her Grandma Nancy made her birthday cake, she always does and they are always DELICIOUS! I happen to have a favorite, which is her homemade strawberry cake! That's what we had for Brenna's birthday! YUM!! :)

Happy Birthday Brenna!! Love you bunches!

Chicago!

For Brian's 27th birthday and our first anniversary, I surprised Brian with a weekend trip to Chicago! It was a lot of fun and we even had decent weather...for Chicago in February!

Top row: taking a pic of myself, Lake Michicgan, frozen mural or ice
Middle: Wrigley, Brian and I with Chicago skyline in back, more frozen ice
Bottom: Brian and I, Chicago skyline, Ikea (see the escalator for the carts...so cool!!)

We met my dad, Larry, for dinner Friday night. We ate at Bucca Di Beppos...so yummy! Saturday we got up and went to the Ikea store, I loved it, Brian was ready to go after 4 hours! :) Saturday night we just walked around downtown and went to Garrett's to get popcorn. Leah, our NP at work told me about Garrett's and I, too, now share her passion for it! Seriously people, the best popcorn EVER!! You can order it online! I'm in! Sunday we headed home! Quick trip, but a great time!